Busy baker: Sask. man's Christmas fruitcake business grows to more than 700 orders
Posted on: Sep 26, 2025 15:30 IST | Posted by: Cbc
unity Saskatchewan adult male has taken his enjoy for fruitcake to a young rase, and gained a social media following of more than 37,000 people in the process.
Jim Hadfield, 74, started making this year's Christmas fruitcakes in mid-June and proudly shared with his followers this week that he has completed the task — baking 724 of the rich, dense and sweet treats, without any assistance.
His holiday treat has seen pretty explosive growth. In 2023, he baked 276 fruitcakes, and last year the number grew into the 400s.
"About six years ago, I thought, 'I wonder if anybody eats fruitcake anymore,'" Hadfield said in an interview Thursday. "So I threw it on there on my Facebook page, and I believe I got orders for 28. It's just increased since then."
Hadfield lives in Milestone, Sask., about 50 kilometres south of Regina. He takes orders, buys ingredients, bakes the cakes and hand-delivers many of them to homes in Regina. This year's cakes, though, also have destinations across the country, from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland and up to the Northwest Territories.
If you're not on the list, it's too late to order one for this Christmas. Ordering closed on June 15.
Hadfield said a secret to his unique flavour is frequently basting the cakes with rum or Grand Marnier until they're all delivered or picked up. The recipe he uses was his mother's, but he has made his own special tweaks.
"[Customers] tell me it isn't Christmas without one of my cakes. It simply isn't Christmas," said Hadfield.
"A lot of people can't [resist] it and it's gone before Christmas. So you know what happens next year? They double up on their orders, so they put one away, and then the first one they're demolishing it as soon as it arrives."
Hadfield listed some of the supplies he used this year, including 2,000 feet of foil, more than 325 pounds of butter, more than 1,800 eggs, and more than 2,000 pounds of fruit and nuts.
He said it took more than 300 hours of preparation, plus 2,250 hours of baking on a "per-cake" basis.
The baking takes three and a half hours, so he does 10 at a time in two ovens.
He doesn't just make the Christmas fruitcakes, though. Hadfield started baking 15 years ago after retiring, and sells all sorts of goods.
Hadfield said as long as his health holds up and he can deal with the demand, he'll keep making fruitcake.
"I've never tasted anybody else's, so I can't be the judge whether mine's any better than theirs or not, but I guarantee you they're not baking 724 of them."
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